Witness: Ex-lawmaker had key role in firm
Fraud trial focuses on his position. Pete Beck says he was contractor, not top officer.
— A co-founder CINCINNATI of the failed tech firm that Pete Beck is accused of hawking to potential investors said even if the board of directors didn’t appoint the former state lawmaker, he “categorically” was the chief financial officer.
Mark Woods, the tech half of the team that founded start-up Christopher Technologies, was on the stand all morning Friday, the fifth day of the scheduled four-week bench trial held in the courtroom of Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge John Andrew West.
Beck’s defense attorney, Ralph Kohnen, got Woods to admit he can’t remember the board of directors naming Beck its chief financial officer – something apparently required by the company’s bylaws – but he said actions speak louder than words.
“A formal, board-driven decision that was ever done, I don’t recall any of that,” Woods said. “I can tell you categorically that he took on responsibilities as a CFO, he took on the name of the CFO, he talked to people and presented himself as the CFO.”
Beck, once the Mason mayor and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, faces dozens of felony charges, including securities fraud, conspiracy, theft and perjury in an alleged multimillion investor scheme. The 62-year-old is looking at a potential lengthy prison sentence.
A certified public accountant, Beck and others are accused of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. Thomas Lysaght, who is deceased, has been referred to by the prosecution as the “rainmaker” in the investment scheme. He and his wife Janet Combs, who was pastor of the Ark by the River Fellowship — identified as a “cult” in court documents — are said to be bigger players in the alleged $2.1 million investment scheme.
Woods and co-defendant John Fussner formed the company in 2006. At that time, Beck’s former Milford accounting firm of Donohoo, Cupp & Beck — now called Donohoo, Cupp & Associates — performed financial services for the fledgling firm. Fussner, who was charged with Beck in July 2013, pleaded guilty to two lesser charges and is expected to take the stand Tuesday.
Assistant Attorney General Jesse Kramig was up first Friday, leading Woods through dozens of documents that showed Beck had a company-issued phone number, email, business cards, cellphone, laptop and office keys. Beck claims he was nothing more than a financial contractor rather than a top officer of the company.
Kramig also guided Woods through information regarding a lucrative deal to develop people trackers for Carnival Cruise Lines. Woods testified that apparently a lot of people go overboard on cruises and they wanted to be able keep track of their passengers for their own safety.
The prosecutor kept hammering on the point that the company didn’t get past the infancy stage on a deal with the cruise line before Carnival corporate called the deal off because it was the middle of the recession. Woods estimated it would cost $2 million per ship for the tracking device.
Kohnen on the other hand painted a picture that Christopher Technologies officials were very excited about the deal after a meeting in the United Kingdom went well.
Beck’s attorney questioned Woods about how often he had financial chats with Beck, and he admitted there were few if any one-on-one talks. “He wasn’t in the office, he wasn’t in the office every day,” Woods said.
Beck will be back in court on Monday.